And Three Months Later She Returns

And Three Months Later She Returns

It has been three months since my last post. You may or may not have noticed I took a small hiatus from the blogging stratosphere. My departure was primarily the result of time constraints and partially because I needed a break. I'm convinced that finding balance in the various areas of one's life is not only a challenge, but also an aspect of life that requires continuous maintenance and examining of one's priorities.

The philosophical viewpoint of achieving balance in a woman's life can be hashed out another day. Today, I'd love to share with you the thoughts crossing my mind and then get caught up on my favorite blogs. I am so incredibly behind!

During my sabbatical, I did quite a bit of reading. Since I enjoyed the Fifty Shades Trilogy, a friend of mine recommended Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It centers around an intern and her "beautiful" boss and the conflict between their intellectual dislike and undeniable physical attraction with one another. The physical encounters are pretty descriptive but it is vastly different from Fifty Shades. I am a sucker for happy endings too.

 

I also read Christina Lauren's Beautiful Stranger. And I must admit, I didn't love it like I did the first novel. I found it to be a little too far fetched in the relationship world.

I read a novel by Ellen Hopkins called Collateral where a college student meets and falls in love with a handsome Marine. The book is not solely a love story as it paints a very real picture of the trials and temptations service men and women and their loved ones at home face while they are enlisted and apart. The one thing to note about this novel is that it is written in poetic format. As I am not at all used to reading poetry, I had to reread the first few sections to make sure I was grasping the content. Once I trained my mind to read it like a book despite the appearance of the words, I was good to go.

Am currently continuing my adventure with Stephanie Plum! I am on Smokin' Seventeen and am ever so anxious to read about her Ranger and Morelli drama. Plus, Lula is plain hilarious. I will say that Sizzling Sixteen may have been one of my favorites. It was a nice change up from a few of the others in that I wasn't quite on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Okay - enough books. Let's talk music. I have recently become acquainted with She and Him. I stumbled on this duo through my toddler. Let's back up a minute, though. Have you ever watched the movie Elf? In the movie, Zooey Deschanel is singing a Christmas song in the shower while Will Ferrell is listening to her and then sings again at the end to spur on more Christmas Spirit. I remember thinking at the time she had a lovely voice. Then, while watching Winnie the Pooh for the umpteenth time, I realized that she was the one singing the theme song. So, in my iTunes search for the Pooh song for my son, I stumbled upon She and Him. I had no idea that she had three albums out. I love her music. I have a few favorites and below is one of them that I found on YouTube:

 

 

My TV time is minimal, but I do keep up with NCIS and Smash. This NCIS season has been awesome and I'm sad that tomorrow night is the season finale. I'm sure it will be a cliffhanger! I think it was end of last week when they announced Smash would be cancelled after this season. I'm really not all that surprised but am still disappointed.

Well, part of my new mantra is to not stay up too late blogging. If I'm going to find balance, I must blog in moderation. Or in other words, I cannot function without sleep the following day so I have instituted a bloggie curfew.

Thanks for reading.

Kate

May 13, 2013

Puppies and Trucks, Oh My

Puppies and Trucks, Oh My

I suppose it's been a little while since my last post. I spent a few days out of town on business and then I sort of took an "I'd rather sleep" spell. When I start blogging after the little one goes to bed, I sometimes stay up entirely way too late and then struggle to be my bright-eyed and bushy-tailed self in the mornings. Balance, I must find balance - that is a completely different blog post in itself.

So, as a way to ease back into the groove of things, I thought I'd share with you a puppy update. As of the end of last week, their eyes have opened.

They've gotten much bigger and are actually quite feisty. Over the weekend, we decided it would be best to go ahead and complete the "pen" since they are starting to move around more. We'd set up the hay bales a few weeks ago but they weren't fully connected.

So, our little one and I hopped into the truck on Saturday and set out for the barn. Remember, I'm not an awesome driver of the manual transmission. Towards the end of the drive leading to the barn, there is a large pile of gravel just sitting there that you must go around. I didn't realize how muddy it had become and as I was avoiding the pile of gravel by going to the side, which just so happens to be a bit of a hillside, I lost traction and essentially control of the truck.

I kept giving it the gas hoping it would push on through, but it didn't happen. We ended up sideways, on a hillside. I looked at our little one and asked him if he was scared. Can you believe he said yes? I decided the best and safest course of action would be to put the truck in neutral and ease off the hill - backwards. I stayed calm, surprisingly.

Once we were off of the hill, I began to breathe again. I put the truck in gear and headed through the field towards the barn. Who needs driveways anyway? The only problem with being in the field is that there is a hillside that separates the field from the barn. We parked the truck parallel to the hill and walked to the barn. I threw down a couple of more square bales from the hayloft and then rolled them down the hill. I was thankful the string didn't break, otherwise there would have been hay everywhere.

We loaded up the truck and headed back to the garage. I temporarily relocated the puppies while I was working on their abode, and they were not at all happy. Cutest little barks and growls I have ever heard. They were perfectly fine once I returned them to their "pen" and they could all return to snuggling with one another.

They'll be three weeks old on Wednesday. It's hard to believe just how fast they grow and that, hopefully, they'll be with their new owners in another three weeks! We've already got a few takers.

Thanks for reading.

Kate

February 12, 2013

Chap Stick, Advil, and Granola

Chap Stick, Advil, and Granola

It's time for Monday Listicles with Stasha at The Good Life.  This week's challenge is 10 Things In My Purse.

Quick story for you. While Christmas shopping, I found this lovely Lands End bag. I decided to purchase it for my mother-in-law as her gift. I liked the bag so much that I actually fought the urge to purchase a second one for my own personal use. We gave her the bag on Christmas, and she said she loved it. However, last week she gave it back to me!! Said that she did love it, but it was really too big for her. Plus, she knew how much I loved it and wanted me to have it. So, as much as I hate what that means for her, I love what it means for me. One - I have the absolute best MIL in the world. And two - I now have this amazing bag.

So, for the things inside..

Read more

All About 2s at the Sunday Social

All About 2s at the Sunday Social

It's time for Sunday Social with Ashley Lately and A Complete Waste of Makeup!

Here are my responses to this week's questions.

1. If you were stuck on an island, what are the two material items you would want to have? I would want to have a heavy duty tote bag and a bottle of a water. I'd want the tote bag because I'm sure I'll need to carry various supplies in order to survive. And I'd want the water because I bet it would be nice to have a bottle you can reuse over and over again.

2. What are two TV shows you'd watch over and over? Gilmore Girls and The Cosby Show

3. If your house was on fire, what two things aside from family, pets, etc. would you grab? I would grab the quilts that were made by my family and my grandmother's Bible.

4. What are your two most favorite articles of clothing? I love my Lands End fleece pullover and my cozy coat from Express.

5. What two movies that you saw in the past year would you recommend to us? This is so incredibly difficult since our movie watching days are scarce. I'd say Columbiana and Just Go With It. And I realize these are not at all recent.

6. What are your two biggest guilty pleasures? Large McDonald's Cokes and sneaking sweets when my toddler isn't watching.

How would you respond?

As always, thanks for reading.

Kate

February 3, 2013

My First Award - Liebster

My First Award - Liebster

I am thrilled to report that Seriously Kate has received it's first award! (If I had a happy dance, I'd be doing it right now.)

The Liebster Award is given to bloggers who are new or are up and comers in the blogosphere and have fewer than 200 followers. The award is then passed along to other bloggers of the same criterion. I am so thankful that Kimbo from It Is Interesting To Note believed my blog a worthy candidate - many many thanks to Kimbo!

Read more

Giveaway: Melissa & Doug Toys

Giveaway: Melissa & Doug Toys

I'm so excited to be participating in my first blogger event! My little one has a small collection of Melissa & Doug toys and I am very pleased with each and everyone of them. The quality is impressive, the artwork is amazing, and I love seeing my child learn while playing.

 

Be sure to enter your info in the entry form at the end of this post and follow as many of the lovely participating bloggers as you like for your chance to win!

 

 

$350 Melissa & Doug Toys Giveaway

Sponsored by Melissa & Doug

Hosted by Coupon Gator Mommy

Read more

A Reality Reject

A Reality Reject

It's Finish the Sentence Friday and many thanks to Janine, Kate, Stephanie, and Dawn for hosting! This week's sentence to finish is "When it comes to reality TV, I..."

So, without further ado...

When it comes to reality TV, I... am completely ignorant. My knowledge and experience is practically non-existent. I've caught an episode here and there of a number of reality shows but an addiction or obsession with any particular one has yet to develop.

In all "reality," my TV time in general has dwindled immensely since the arrival of our little one. I'll occasionally curl up on the couch and watch a movie or a re-run of some sort, but to commit myself to a TV show is asking a little much. I've managed to stay committed to a very select few shows of which I can only think of two that I wouldn't dare delete off of the DVR before watching - and not a single one of those are reality TV. Truthfully, there are just other ways I prefer to spend my time.

However, today's FTSF is about reality TV, so I must come up with something... How about a glimpse of what I haven't stuck with but have at least tried?

Read more